Beyond

Beyond Series, Book 1

By: Maureen A. Miller

Narrated by: Emma Lysy

It is the day after Aimee Patterson's high school graduation. College beckons, as does her dream of becoming an engineer. On an early evening walk, her cocker spaniel charges into the woods on the other side of the pond. Aimee trails after him, and in the stillness of that forest the unthinkable happens. She becomes paralyzed and watches in horror as her hands vanish before her eyes.

Waking to the sound of voices, Aimee realizes that she has been kidnapped. Little does she know how far away from home she is, though. In an attempt to flee her captors, she launches from their confines only to freeze at the view outside the window. The sky is black and filled with stars, and in the distance is a familiar blue globe. The planet Earth.

A group of humans forced to flee their planet after an epidemic destroyed their civilization now travel the galaxies in search of an antidote. Retrieving samples of plant life from every solar system, on this occasion Aimee was accidentally seized instead.

Aimee must learn to avoid the advances of an awkward young scientist who seems intent on dissecting her, as her own fascination turns to the exotic young warrior, Zak. Having fallen in love with Zak, she is now torn with the decision to return to Earth or live beyond the stars.

©2012 Maureen A. Miller (P)2016 Maureen A. Miller

Loved this book!

Loved the book, but the narrator talking through her nose for Zak made it irritating.

I enjoyed this book immensely

Beyond: Beyond the Series Book 1 is an enthralling tale of a young woman hours away from graduating with her life planned out before her.  Aimee Patterson is an only child with parents that all kids long for until … She takes a fateful trip into the woods following her dog when suddenly she feels strange before blacking out.

When Aimee does wake up she finds her life is no longer planned out, she has no family and only Joh and a few others to help her navigate her way through her new world.   Can she get back home? How does she maneuver her way through betrayal and treachery?

Maureen Miller builds a strong science fiction story full of twists and suspense.   Miller captures the feelings of a young girl struggling to find herself and her way in a strange world all the while navigating through teenage girl hormones.   The dialog is realistic as are the feelings of Aimee.  Miller builds strong characters to draw her readers in and connect them to each and every character.

Miller develops the story line and characters with gracefully strong descriptions and situations.

Emma Lysy is a strong narrator; her voice helps to bring the reader in and keep them caught up in the story with her passionate, clear and moving voice.  Her voice is even and soothing while projecting the emotions of Aimee and the chaos of her life.

I enjoyed this book immensely and listened to it non stop.   I enjoyed the story and narrator to the point that I didn't want it to end.   It was fun, light listening and Miller writes using vivid descriptions.  Growing up, I loved stories such as this one  -  I longed to take those trips and explore new worlds while also finding myself.

This book is for anyone who loves science fiction, romance, and adventure.

Audiobook was provided for review by the author.

Please find this complete review and many others at my review blog

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Enjoyed it!

In ‘Beyond’ we meet Aimee. One day Aimee finds herself being kidnapped. She wakes up weeks later finding herself on a spaceship. The ship is in hands of people who have been forced to leave their planet after an epidemic, and now they are looking for an antidote. Soon Aimee finds out she has been kidnapped accidentally, but they can only return her 5 years from now.

To be completely honest it took me a little while to really get into this book. Somehow I just couldn’t really get into this book as easily as I usual do. After I listened for the second time to the beginning I finally felt like I got it and I began to enjoy the read more.

I really liked Aimee. I loved that she was intelligent and had this kind of ‘nerdy’ feeling about herself. She definitely was a character I could connect with. It did find it a little weird how ‘easily’ she seemed to accept her situation. She wanted to get back home at the beginning, but she definitely sounded a little to accepting if you ask me.
Zak was definitely nice to read about, but I just didn’t really ‘love’ him. He just seemed so.. normal. And in the end I still felt like I didn’t really knew him. The romance between Aimee and Zak was really something I did enjoy. Aimee and Zak feel attracted to each other almost right from the beginning and it was fun to read about those two.

The timeline was a little strange. One moment Aimee was waking up, and the next she had been on the ship for months. But it didn’t bother me too much.

The Narrator Emma Lysy did a good job if you ask me. I enjoyed listening to her voice and getting to know the characters through her. After I got used to her voice, I really was able to tell the characters a part due to her different ‘voices’.

Overall I did enjoy this book. I’m beginning to think Sci- Fi isn’t really my thing anymore though. Not because of this book but just in general. I don’t seem to like it as much as I used too. But ‘Beyond’ really is a fun audiobook to listen to.

Good Young Adult Science Fiction

I chose to listen to this audiobook after receiving a free copy from Audiobookworm Promotions. All opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased.

Beyond is the first book in the Beyond series and the first book I’ve read (or listened to) in this series. It won’t be the last. I need to find out what happens to Aimee and Zak, the main characters in this series.

I like Maureen A. Miller’s writing style. Not only does it flow well, but she throws a little humor in here and there among the drama. I do think there could have been a little more information about Aimee’s time on the ship. It was mentioned that she could spend time learning from the scientists, but it was never mentioned again and all of a sudden, it was time for her to go home.

I’m hoping to get to know the characters more in the next book. Zak and Aimee are the only two humans on the ship from different planets. They are drawn to each other and fall in love. Thankfully, it’s not love at first sight like in so many young adult books.

Emma Lysy has a distinct voice that is perfect for this story. She did the different voices well and her pauses and inflections were spot on.

I definitely recommend this audiobook to anyone who enjoys young adult books.

Beyond

This was a good story.It was well written with good characters.Amy goes for a walk with her dog in the woods.Something strange happens, and she does not return home for years.She meets the man of her dreams while away, but can she leave him to return to her parents?Emma Lysy is the perfect narrator of this mainly YA adventure.I was provided this book free by the author, narrator or publisher.

I want more!

this book was a delightful mix of sci-fi and young adult romance. great for the young and old. the story was well written and the narrator did a great job. I really enjoyed this book and hope that there's more to come.

This audiobook was given by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review via Audiobook Boom

Really enjoyed this book

Any additional comments?

3.5 stars
Good start to a series. Interesting, enjoyable and entertaining. This is a light, Sci-Fi fantasy YA romance, not a dark, violent and complex story. Even though it's listed in the Teen category, personally I really enjoyed this story.

Aliens, romance, different worlds, space travel, suspense, mystery, plague, betrayal and more.

Good characters, especially Aimee and Zak of coarse. You don't get the feeling that their relationship is forced or too fast. It works well.

The story does end in a sort of cliffhanger. It's the kind of cliffhanger that if there were no other books you would be happy with the ending. But it does leave you wanting the next installment immediately. It will be interesting to see where the story goes from here.

There are a few inconsistencies in the storyline, and things pretty much happened the way you would expect them to happen with no major twists, but they were not enough to take away from my overall enjoyment of the story. I am looking forward to the rest of the series.

Emma Lysy did a really good job with the narration. Pleasant voice. Very distinct and easily recognizable. Even though her voice is soft it's not "too" soft. Clearly spoken with a nice even pace. Good character voices. Her male character voices are becoming more distinct and you can tell the difference between all the characters male and female. She was able to bring the story and characters life. Hopefully the rest of the series will be available on Audible soon and she will be narrating them.

I was voluntarily provided this review copy audiobook by the author, narrator or publisher.

Excellent space adventure tale

Any additional comments?

I received a copy of this audiobook for my honest review.

When I picked up Beyond, I was looking for a fun alien space story. That's what I got, but I got so much more. Beyond is an intriguing space adventure tale, full of relatable (and brilliant) characters and fun world-building.

I loved that the aliens are not little green men or creepy squid creatures, but people. They're not human, but they're pretty much human - in appearance, emotion, and relationships - but they are so much more advanced in technology. Our alien race is running from a plague, and desperately searching other planets for a cure. By accident, or by evil intention, they snag a girl from Earth in addition to the plants they were sampling.

This girl, Aimee, is a recent high school graduate, a smart cookie who plans to go to college to study engineering (my kind of lady). So being on this space ship? Well, that's an internship of a lifetime!

I loved the Artificial Intelligence machine JOH. What a fun character, and so real. Definitely not just a "computer" like Aimee calls him at first. I loved getting to know Zak and his backstory. He's different from the rest of the alien race on the ship, yet similar, and so honorable and determined to save his own home planet one day. I enjoyed watching Zak and Aimee interact and fall for each other. I ached for them when the spaceship made its way back to Earth and Aimee was to be returned to her home.

But most of all I enjoyed that an Earthling got to save the day! I liked that Aimee wasn't a special snowflake - I don't think it was her and only her who could cure the plague. I think any human from Earth, or at least with a similar lifestyle, could have contained the necessary something in their DNA. So that's what I liked about this story - she was just at the wrong (or right) place at the time the spaceship was searching for a cure on her planet and got picked up for an adventure of her life.

What's to happen next for Zak and Aimee? Well, this is a series, so I'm hoping there are more fun adventures for them.

Now let's chat about the audio since that is the version I am reviewing. I love audiobooks, and this was no exception. I think Emma Lysy did a great job with the pacing and the storytelling for this book. Her voice was kind of unique to me, almost like when I want to mimic a queen, and I open up the back of my throat and kind of make my words um, bigger? Does that make sense? That's kind of what her voice sounds like. I liked her voices for the other characters and enjoyed the way each character's voice had something unique to it.

Overall, a solid read (and listen).

Review "Beyond, book 1"

“This audiobook was given by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review via Audiobook Boom.”
Ok, I am buying book 2!
Maureen Miller has paired her writing talent with the unbelievable narration by Emma Lysy.
This combo kept me listening when I should have been busy taking care of obligations. I know it's 'just' a story of alien induction, with the classic good guys and bad guys. Yes there is the falling in love thing, etc etc. When you listen, then you will understand why I gave it five stars. There is almost a magic in the way M Miller weaves the story and E Lysy delivers it in a flow that transmits every emotion and you never get lost with which character you are hearing. Enjoy:-)

Looking forward to book 2

Was Beyond worth the listening time?

Yes!

There were some weird inconsistencies and the main character being really naive for someone suppose to be super smart, but I really enjoyed this story. The main characters, Amiee and Zak, were awesome together and I can't wait to learn what happens next for these two. Anyone that loves YA will enjoy this book.

Any additional comments?

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.